Process of producing artificial leather.



C. E. ARNOLD.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING ARTIFICIAL LEATHER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 3, I914. RENEWED MAY .16, I917.

1 ,QAL? 61 U" Patented Nov. 27, 1913.

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I I s 16 ion.

CHARLES ELWOOD ARNOLD, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, ASSIGNOR T E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS POWDER COMPANY, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING ARTIFICIAL LEATHER.

Application filed September 3, 1914, Serial No. 859

To all whom it mag concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES ELwoon AR- NOLD, of Wilmington, in the county of New Castle, and in the State of Delaware, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Processes of Producing Artificial Leather, and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates particularly to an improvement in the methods of producing coated fabrics, but more especially woven fabrics carrying a coating or layer of a nitrocellulose composition.

The object of my invention is to produce a product of this kind in which the layer of nitrocellulose composition carried by the fabric will be very effectively and securely anchored on the fabric, and in which the coating compositions will adhere in an eifective manner to the fabric.

ile my invention is capable of being carried out in many different ways, for the purpose of illustration I shall describe only one way in which it may be carried out, and it may be carried out in connection with any desired form of aparatus, for the purpose of illustration I have shown only 0 e form of apparatus in the accompanying rawings, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of a machine which may be used in connection with my process;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same;

ig. 3 is an end elevation in detail of a shaft on which the fabric is carried when being fed into the machine;

Fig. 4 is an' end elevation of one of the wooden shuttles used for carrying the fabric;

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of one of the gears; and v Fig. 6 is a plan view of the doctor blade, provided with ears, for feedin the cementin material upon the web of abric.

n the drawings I have shown a machine having a main frame 1, in which there are Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 26, 3191?. 962. Renewed May 16,

justed by means of screws 10 and 11, supported in the main frame 1 and having worm wheels 12 and 13 on their ends which mesh with worms 14 and 15, carried by two shafts 16-and 17 and adapted to be operated by handles 18 and 19. The shafts 5, 6 and 7 carry, near one end thereof, gears 20, 21 and 22, which are keyed to the shaft by means of removable keys 23, said gears 20, 21 and 22 being all of the same size. ,Upon the other end of the said shafts 5, 6 and 7, are carried gears 24, 25'and 26, the gear 25 being smaller than the gears 24 and 26, and said gears being keyed to their respective shafts in a similar manner to the gears 20, 21 and 22. Only one of these sets of gears is used at a given time. When the gears 20, 21 and 22 are used the keys are removed from gears 24 and 26, and when the gears 24, 25 and 26 are used the keys are removed from the gears and 22. The gears 20, 21 and 22 are used when it is ,desired to have the rolls 2, 3 and 4 moved at the same speed, and the gears 24, and 26 are used when it is desired to have the top and bottom rolls move slower than the middle roll. The central shaft 6 is extended at the one end of the machine so as to carry a large gear 27, which meshes with a small gear 28 having at one end thereof a tight pulley 29 and a plates 31 and 32 areloose pulley 30. Guide supported upon rods 33 and 34 from the main frame 1, said guide plates 31 and 32 fitting against the adjacent faces of the rolls 2 and 3 to retain a body of a nitrocellulose lastic composition 35 in place thereon.

ear the bottom the main frame 1 supports in av pair of arms 36 a shaft 37 adapted to receive a wooden bo'bbin 38 carrying a roll of fabric such as'cloth to be provided with a coating. A friction band 39 extends around the shaft 37, so as to retard the unwinding of the fabric and therefore maintain it taut. From the shaft 37, the fabric is fed over a guide roll 40, supported 1n the arms 36, and from this polnt the fabr c passes under a doctor blade 41, supported 1n arms 42 from the main frame 1, and held in position by thumb screws 43. body of nitrocellulose jelly or other cementinfg material 44 is designed to be carried in ront of the doctor blade 41, said body of cementing material being confined in its proper POSI- tion by a pan of angle plates or ears 45,

' attached by thumb screws 46, to the doctor blade 41; From this point the fabric passes between the rolls 3 and 4, where it receives a coating of plastic material from the body of plastic material 35 on top of the jelly or cementing coat previously applied by the doctor 41.

The coated web of fabric which is now delivered by the machine may be conveyed away from the same in any suitable manner so as to allow the coating to dry and harden.

In the operation of the machine, a. coating of jelly is first applied tothe fabric as a cementing coating and on top of this is applied a coating of plastic. The first coating applied by means 'of the doctor firmly adheres to the fabric, inasmuch as the composition penetrates to the smallest interstices in the fabric. The first coating, furtheremore, causes the second coating to firmlyladhere to the coated fabric, inasmuch as the first coating is in a moist, sticky condition after being applied to the fabric. In this way an exceedlngly efficient anchorage of the coatings to the fabric is obtained.

Then the coated fabric may be conveyed away and supported in such a manner as to permit the coatings to dry and harden.

My invention involves the discovery that inapplying a plastic coating to a fabric by means of. calender rolls, eflicient anchorage 1 of the coating to the fabric may be obtained by applying first a cementing coat of suitable composition in a moist and stickycondition and applying the principal coating of plastic before the cementing coat has had time to dryand harden. My invention may be carried out with different coating compositions and the cementing coat may be applied'in different ways. The doctor blade is mentioned above simply as one suitable that many changes. may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

fabric, which comprises applying to a fabric a coatlng of a cementing composition, and then by means of pressure applying a coating of a nitrocellulose plastic beforethe first coat has been allowed to dry.

2. The process of producing a coated fabric, which comprises applying to a fabric a coating of nitrocellulose cementing composition, and then by means of pressure apfabric, which comprises applying to a fabric a coating of a cementing composition, and

'6 1. The process of producing a coated to. plyinga coating ofanitrocellulose plastic be- 1 forethe first coat has been allowed. to dry.

3. The process of producing a coated then by means of calender rolls a plying a coating of a nitrocellulose plastic U efore the first coat has been allowed to dry.

4:. The process of producing a coated fabric, which comprises applying to a fabric a coating of a nitrocellulose cementing composition, and then by means of calender rolls applying a coating of a nitrocellulose plastic before the first coat has been allowed to dry. L

In testimony that I claim theforegoing I have hereunto set my hand.

CHARLES ELWOOD ARNOLD. 

